April Snow

Stepping into Nanhua Forestry Culture Park (Nanhua Forest Park) in Ji’an Township, visitors are greeted not only by lush greenery and snow-white blossoms, but also by a profound sense of local memories. If you ask a local taxi driver for directions to the “forest park,” you might be met with a blank stare, because residents still habitually refer to it as “Nanhua Work Station,” a name carrying the feeling of bureaucratic distance of a government office. However, this once-unfamiliar forestry site is now being thoughtfully transformed into an accessible venue for admiring tung blossoms.

Unlike the famous “May snow” typically found in the mountainous regions of northwestern Taiwan (Taoyuan, Hsinchu, and Miaoli), Nanhua Forest Park boasts a much earlier blooming season due to its lower elevation and warmer climate. The first buds emerge in late March, reaching full bloom by mid-April. If you blink, they will have already taken their final bow by the end of the month—making this a truly unique “April snow” exclusive to eastern Taiwan.

Male flowers always captivate visitors’ attention with their “intact descent.”

The fascinating ecology of tung blossoms

Without a guided tour, visitors here might easily miss the captivating botanical details of the tung flowers. The intact blossoms blanketing the forest paths are actually male flowers. To attract insects for pollination, male blossoms bloom in clusters of dozens or even hundreds. Once their mission is accomplished, they gracefully fall from the branches entirely intact. Conversely, the often-overlooked female flowers shed their petals one by one, leaving the ovary at the center securely on the branch to nurture seeds.

Furthermore, tung blossoms change color. When they first open, the floral core is a pale yellow, which transitions to red within three to five days. Occasionally, you may spot intact yellow-cored blossoms on the ground, which are weaker male flowers that have detached early to redirect nutrients to their stronger peers—a stunning display of nature’s ingenious survival mechanisms.

Taiwan’s most common tung trees are divided into two main varieties: the “thousand-year tung” (Vernicia montana, or wood-oil tree) and the “three-year tung” (Vernicia fordii, or tung-oil tree). The former features wrinkled fruit, cup-shaped glands on its leaves, and dense wood, with seeds that are ideal for oil extraction. The latter boasts smooth fruit and flat glands, and while it grows rapidly, its economic value is lower. A local botanical mnemonic summarizes them perfectly: “three-flat-smooth, thousand-cups-wrinkled.”

During the era of Japanese rule, tung trees were introduced and cultivated extensively to meet industrial and military demands for tung oil, which Hakka communities also ingeniously utilized as a waterproof coating for their traditional paper umbrellas. As the petrochemical industry rose to prominence, the tung tree was largely abandoned, left to grow quietly in the mountain forests. It wasn’t until recent years, driven by the cultural revival of the Hakka Tung Blossom Festival, that these trees re-entered the public eye while beautifully reawakening memories of Taiwan’s forestry industry heritage.

The flat terrain of Nanhua Forestry Culture Park transforms tung blossom viewing into an effortless, inclusive spring excursion for family members of all ages.

At the base of each thousand-year tung’s leaf sit a pair of cup-shaped glands that secrete nectar to attract ants. In return, the ants fiercely guard the plant by driving away beetles and other pests, forming a wondrous symbiotic alliance. 

Environmental education

Historically serving as the timber storage base and lumber processing site for the Halun forestry area, Nanhua Park has borne witness to the rise and fall of Taiwan’s logging industry. Today, the park preserves a rich, diverse forest ecosystem, featuring native plants such as soapberry and Formosan sweet gum, alongside rare “hermaphroditic” tung trees. Currently, the park is actively pioneering the “underforest economy,” developing the cultivation of log-grown shiitake mushrooms and beekeeping beneath the forest canopy. It is also developing ways to generate electricity from waste wood, ensuring that forest resources are cyclically used as the site transitions from extraction of lumber to sustainable stewardship.

Meanwhile, the Ji’an Hakka Affairs Office has integrated the Tung Blossom Festival with environmental education. They lead local schoolchildren in observing and interacting with nature, helping them understand plant anatomy and ecological relationships. From differentiating between male and female blossoms to observing the symbiotic relationship between ants and plants, this approach ensures that learning leaps off the textbook pages and into the living forest.

If you have grown weary of crowded tourist attractions, consider an April getaway to Ji’an, Hualien. Along the flat, highly accessible woodland paths in Nanhua Park, there is no need for strenuous hiking. Just hold children’s hands or easily navigate a wheelchair as you stroll effortlessly through the snow-like falling blossoms while listening to the deeply intertwined stories of the forest and the land. 

For more on the under-forest economy, see: “Balancing Production and the Environment: The Underforest Economy Takes Off”

Boasting a diverse forest canopy and tranquil waters, Nanhua Park is an idyllic sanctuary for peaceful strolls and reconnecting with nature.

 

Formerly the timber storage venue and lumber processing site for products of the Halun forestry area, Nanhua Park still houses historical machinery such as this wood splitting machine.